Pick Flick (well, erkno11, in this case)

saludos de mexico, gracias por las votas i guess. kester and schneider were released yesterday and now i am the solo gringo aqui. i guess i can work on improving my spanish again. things are going well, we just arrived in puebla two days ago. two weeks in metepec was enough. we took a four day four town tour through mexico last week and it was interesting. we went to xalapa veracruz, huatulco veracruz, leon guanajuato, and queretaro queretaro. traveling through veracruz was awesome. pure jungles and mountains and our bus dangling off the edge of mountains and 7 or 8 thousand feet above sea level. very cool. i enjoy getting to experience the real mexico. we played on some crap fields, though. one had no grass whatsover and the outfield was pure rocks and gravel. i miss my family but besides that things are good. thanks for the support and iŽll try to keep in touch

Testing 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

Hi my name is Eric and i'm a spofi-aholic. I'm glad the site is up and running again. the downtime let me check off some things on my honey-do list, but it has killed my urge to spend all-day checking the computer and looking for new comments and threads. I am Sofa-King sad

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

i was a gunea pig for that product. I actually participated in a study for Nike in '01 or '02, can't remember exactly. they came to tucson during spring training and examined us and fitted us with poor eyesight with these lenses. i thought they were great. i preferred the yellower tinted lenses. the amber ones were a little freaky looking and a little dark, but very effective. when our AAA team went to portland, me and the other 'subjects' were taken to nike town for testing. it was pretty cool. the gave me so many pair that I still have four or five of each shade. all of your descriptions of the effects are true. it is truly an amazing product and I am glad I participated in the program.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

dusted, breathtaking scenery there on your blog. if I wasn't afraid of wiping out on a motorcycle I would love to do one of those trips. i used to love driving from florida to arizona for spring training. once i got past san antonio, it was a beautiful drive to tucson. gave me plenty of time to get my mind right for the upcoming season. then coming home, it was great to unwind on the drive home. my eyesight has always sucked. i wear contacts and have since high school. i'm a little skeptical to get lasik right now. i've played with some guys that have problems with seeing 'halos' around the outfield lights. my contacts are fine but I sometimes have problems with them in dry climates. riding a motorcycle without eye protection would be really tough alot of the really good hitters i know see better than 20/20. i would give almost anything to have perfect eyesight. my contacts don't even correct it to 20/20

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

the sheffield line-drive wasn't even the worse. I had taken a shutout into the 8th inning in a game in AA. I threw a 2-0 fastball to a guy named mario encarnacion. he smoked it off my neck. i was sem-conscious when the trainer came out to help me. I tried to be tough and walk off the field under my own power but jelly-legged it halfway to the clubhouse. i remember sitting in the clubhouse with brad penny, john patterson, and nick bierbrodt laughing at me. they said i was talking complete nonsense after that. i went to the hospital, x-rays were negative, and made my next start. if it would have hit me in my jaw or collarbone I would have been done for the season. I still flinch sometimes when the ball is fouled off or I don't see the ball of the bat the worse part was the pen blew the game and I ended up with a ND

Is there a length limit on comments?

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

the one thing that stands out about that play was the sound of the ball coming toward me. it's hard to describe, but it had a kind of heavy sound to it, like the ball weighed 20 pounds or something. I know it was hit back a lot harder than it came in. that and the lortabs the doc gave me to ease the pain. I had weird ass dreams for two or three nights in a row.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

actually, when I was in Montreal the crowds were really good. That place could get really loud with only 10 or 12 thousand people in the stands. Gary Carter day was huge. The crowds were into it then because we were fighting for the wild card. in fact, the day I was sent down we swept the phillies and tied for the lead in the wild-card standings. I can remember watching Larry Bowa on the other side blowing his lid as we swept them four straight. however, as I went to the minors, they went on a big road trip to fla. and puerto rico and lost nine straight and screwed their wild-card chances. Karma! Mexican league crowds, like the Major Leagues, depend on where you were playing. We averaged 6 or 7 grand a night with a pretty vibrant atmosphere. Cheerleaders, mascots, mariachi bands, it had a little bit of everything. Tijuana had the best support, probably averaging 10 or 12 a night. They jammed music between almost every pitch and it was more festive than anywhere else. A big difference between there (Japan, also) and the states is that they sold hard liquor at the games. The Mexican fans would get trashed and were not afraid to hurl insults. They would throw stuff at our mascot even. The most festive atmosphere I have ever played in is down in winterball in the Dominican. 25-thousand plus on the weekends, elaborate fireworks, shakira look-alike dancers that strutted their stuff on top of the dugouts between every innings. Way cool, better than any major league atmosphere that I played in.

Olympic Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

appreciate the support, mr. mcsmokey. if i put together a list of my favorite spofi members you would be in there. you were one of the 100 viewers that used to watch expo baseball back in the day? probably my most memorable 'spos moment was almost get killed by a gary sheffield line drive in montreal. to this day, i still can't get my wedding ring on my finger. i put my hand up at the last moment to keep it out of my grill. the ball ricocheted to o. cabrera who threw home to m. barrett, who gator armed the attempt to catch it and the runner scored. if that run doesn't score, my ERA for that year stays in the 4's and who knows what happens after that. bastards, they sent me down on Aug. 30th, the day before the rosters expanded. they sent me down for some stiff named Chad Cordero

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

never made it there, played pretty much everywhere in the NL except for the NL central clubs, excluding Houston. didn't make it to shea either my grandmother could pass on with a smile on her face if I ever put on the Cubbie blue.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Mark Grace- the all-time best teammate ever. period. didn't care if you were a rookie or a vet, treated everyone the same. old school baseball player, no weight training, no batting glove,s smoked cigs. He was pulled straight out of the old-school. In LA, he invited me and a couple of other guys to his suite just to hang out, drink beer, and shoot the bull. stayed there until about 4 am soaking everything in. at the end of the night, he calls up room service and orders two gallons of milk, a bunch of ice cream, and one of everything on the desert cart. classic.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

and watch out for the guy who thinks just because he's pretty good at throwing a baseball he has the right to throw his opinion about everything out there to anyone with a microphone or pen and notebook in his face

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

i'm starting to get into this hockey thing now. I went to my first NHL games this winter. Dallas-Phx, Dal-Detroit. The Detroit game went to a shootout. I learned more about the game seeing two in person than I could pick up watching 50 games on tv. I religiously follow the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To play, I have a basketball hoop in the driveway and am money from anywhere on my driveway. I like to golf, but I liked it better when I could golf for free back home in Florida. It's just too expensive of a hobby right now. Growing up I was a huge Sandberg, Dawson, Grace fan. In fact, when I made my big league debut for Arizona, Grace is standing on the mound when I get called in from the 'pen and says "here you go kid, this is what you've been waiting for all your life, have fun." i still get chills thinking about it. I had a frickin poster of him on my wall growing up and there he was on the same field as me. All big league players inspired me when I was a kid. But the Cubs rocked. I couldn't wait to come home from school and watch them on WGN. It sounds like your nephew is on the right track. I was undrafted out of high school and didn't really blossom physically until I got to college. I would tell him to always remember it's a game and to have fun. Work hard, and try to be a better baseball player in person than one on a video game. it seems to me now some kids would rather be good at playstation than be good on the field. I have a 3 1/2 year old cutie of a daughter, Isabella

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

my repertoire FB 2 and 4 seamer 87-91. I work the two-seamer down and away to righties and try to bore it on the hands vs. lefties CH-79-80 I would like to bring those velocities down a little bit Breaking ball- I'll just call it that now. One grip, changes speeds and arm angle a little bit with it. I love throwing a backdoor breaking ball to right handers. I'll throw the harder one under the hands to righties and away from lefties

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Worst cities Butte, Montana-ugliest city in America Visalia, Calif.-a dump Midland, Texas- you could stand at home plate and piss over the wall Little Rock, Ark- worst hotel. be careful leaving at night. Tijuana and Mexico City- NEVER leave the hotel by yourself after dark

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

I like pitch counts. There is a certain level, different for every guy, that a pitcher begins to deteriorate. I would say mine is around 110. The pacific coast league has some great cities and great ballparks. It's a pretty crappy pitchers league though. Favorite cities Portland- beautiful city, beautiful ballpark. Just watch out for the Heroin addicts all over the downtown area. Edmonton-another beauty of a city. reminds of a European city. although i've never been to Europe. Memphis-best ballpark in the minors. Hotel was two blocks from Beale Street Las Vegas-obvious reasons. the visiting team hotel is the Golden Nugget. San Antonio- you have to hit the ball twice to get it out of that yard. The Riverwalk is also nice. Cancun-stayed right on the beach. the worst part of the day was leaving for the ballpark I've played in the Pioneer, California, Texas, and Pacific Coast leagues. Besides Memphis and Nashville never played anywhere east of the Mississippi. Cape Cod League-beautiful area. my first taste of big-time baseball David Ortiz- I own David Ortiz. 0 for 3 with a punchout against me this winter in the Dominican

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

MILB.com has now partnered with the Mexican League. just go to the top of the page and enter my name (Eric Knott)in the player search. My team name is the Pericos de Puebla. Probably the Puebla Parrots on the english side of the site. I would love that if I ever got to Toronto. One of my old roomies, Scott Downs, is now with the Jays. I haven't talked to him in awhile but i'm sure I could get in touch with him and get him to leave periodic tickets. Also, the Nats visit Toronto June 27-29. I'm 100% percent sure my best friend in baseball, John Patterson, would be happy to leave tickets for some of you guys. I don't know what happened to Hinske, maybe the fat contract early in his career. When I faced him in AAA he was a tough ass out. I loved playing in Canada. I played rookie ball in Lethbridge, AAA in Edmonton, and some big league time in Montreal. I love the people there and have nothing but fond memories from all 3 stops. No better street the St. Catherine's in montreal for some good times.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

yes, i am concerned about getting away from the things that has worked for me. In reality, how well have they worked. I am 31 years old and the window of opportunity is closing fast. This will be my last year if I have to continue to go back to Mexico to play. The separation is too hard on me and my family to max out at about 60 g's a year. However, that's not bad for 5 months work. I can make another 20 grand or so in winterball, also. I didn't start pitching to be a Mexican League All-Star. Therefore, i'm going to put everything out on the table this year and bust ass to get an opportunity to get to the big leagues or an opportunity to pitch overseas (i pitched in Japan in 2000) There is hope, I have an out clause in my contract that I can leave whenever I want without an organization compensating my team in Mexico. And Oscar Robles' contract was purchased from Mexico City last year and he went straight to the bigs. As far as #5. No video scouting in Mexico. I will watch hitters myself in the dugout and just check the basic stat sheets that they post up in the dugout. As far as relying on the pitching coach there, the guy is not the sharpest.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

My Keys to Improving My Strikeout Numbers 1. Ditch the philosophy of trying to get an out on 3 pitches or less. 2. Work Deeper into the count-works with number 1 3. Improve breaking ball- I feel I turned the corner on that this winter in the Dominican. I morphed both my slider and curve one pitch, a slurve perhaps. I now use the same grip and have the ability to change speeds with it. I can throw it anywhere from 72-82 miles an hour 4. Take advantage of weaker hitters. When I was in AAA I always tried to punch out the pitcher. This is a great way to increase totals 5. Study stats more and identify free-swingers. Look for uys with high strikeout and low walk totals and target them. 6. Try turning over the change-up a little bit. I throw it without pronating my wrist and therefore it doesn't move and generate swings and misses as much as I would like. I've also been working on that this winter. 1 and 2 are going to be the hardest. I've always tried to get quick outs and ground balls. I don't want to get away from my game that has worked for me in the past. I'm sure when I get out there on the mound I am not going to consciencely try to strike out more guys, I just hope it happens. Also, Puebla, the home city I play in is above 7,000 feet elevation. The breaking ball tends to flatten out there. It is worse than Colorado Springs. I went to Colorado in the big leagues but never pitched there. As far as velocity, I don't think that is going to change now. 87-91 with a 2 and 4-seam fastball. Hit 94 on the FoxSportsNet gun against the Marlins, got on-tape proof of that. My wife's at work, the daughter is in school, I have no life here in Dallas, keep bringing the questions. I love talking baseball.

Movin' On Up

md 20/20 last time i drank that me and my buddies forgot to put out a fire in my friend's pasture and burned the damn thing down. i'm at my house the next day and my friend calls me, "you better get down here, we got some work to do." we had to replace all the barbed wire around the whole perimeter. one of the ranchhands was poking around in the remains of the fire and pulled out two md 20/20 tops. we threw the bottles into a pond and shot them with a bb gun but put threw the caps in the fire.

Olympic Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

fraze, between your quality hilarious videos on blog, your excellent writing on the site, and your liberal interpretation of the strike zone i'm liking you more and more each day. any ump that calls the bottom of the knees is a friend of mine. as far as the umps down there, they wouldn't raise the fist for strike 3. hence only 60-something K's in 140+ innings. that's pretty horsecrap whatever league you're in. hopefully i can improve on that this year. i've never been a K pitcher but realize that if i'm going to return to the states i need to improve on that number. especially in this day farm directors and gm's who are like grum. they make an assumption based on a spreadsheet printout more than they do off a visual scouting report.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

if i met ron mexico I would tell him he ruined my fantasy football team for two years. ron shelton, on the other hand, was very, very, hollywood cool. we met in one of the owner's boxes during a game I wasn't pitching. we talked for the whole game and he never came across a big-time or arrogant. he was genuinely interested in what i was saying. he was very casual. blue jeans, courdoroy sport coat, cigar chomping, with the pretty young assistant at his side taking notes for him. elov, i read your profile earlier in the year and hoped you were an umpire that gave the corners. nowadays, it seems to me the strikezone is shrinking. i'd rather someone take an inch off the outside corner and give the inside corner correctly. i love to freeze guys inside with two strikes but have a hard time getting those pitches. mind if I call you "blue" (jk)

10K

i'm # 2764. i joined almost six months to the day ago. what has contributed to the rapid rise in membership the last six months? congratulations, i guess, to those who put this site together. i enjoy it very much and probably spend more time on here than I should. thanks for turning me into a computer-online community geek

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

had to google d. francis and elmore leonard to find out who they were. i like those kind of books so i will pick some up on the way out. i'm a stuart woods and robert b. parker kind of guy. i like books I can hammer out on one bus ride or a couple of afternoons in a hotel room.very easy reading. i actually met ron shelton in mexico last year. he was researching for a movie about an ex all-star pitcher whose contract is sold to a mexican league team. kind of bull durhamish. i love the guys' sports movies. bull durham, tin cup, white men can't jump all excellent movies in my opinion. very interesting guy also. he said the movie will start being produced in a couple of years. i would never go jim bouton and sell out a teammate. I kind of sold curt schilling out in my very first post and still feel bad about it. even though i can't stand the guy. it's just not right. i've got plenty of good stories but I would never use someone's name anymore.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

back in the day, (i'm happily married now, to a girl from mexico i met while playing in el paso) tequila consumption + eric= possibly waking up next to someone so ugly you wish you could gnaw your arm off

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

here are a couple of things i remember from last year that might make a good colummn 1. a guy had sex on the bus during a game 2. guys puffing cigarettes in the dugout 3. dogs urinating on the field and chickens roaming in the outfield during a spring training game 4. guys injecting 'roids in the team hotel 5. guys taking so many 'greenies' that their eyes are about to pop out of their heads and are constantly dry-heaving 6. spring training games on dirt fields with no mounds and actual pitching rubbers 7. my manager squeezing with two outs 8. orders from team not to leave the hotel while playing in tijuana. 9. 13 dollars a day meal money also, this year they are implementing drug testing there, it will be interesting to see some of my teammates when I get to spring and to watch the overall power numbers this year

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

chico, goddam, and everyone else thanks for the support. it's been a rough offseason for me. 20 combined wins between mexico and the d.r. and still can't find work over here. the next person that says all a left-hander needs is a pulse to pitch in the big leagues, i'm gonna punch in the mouth. chico, just found out the other night you're a songwriter. that's cool. i kind of feel i can relate with you because your level of success depends on what so called "experts" in your field think of your work, even though they sometimes don't know shit. (is that a correct assumption) that's how i feel right now. i feel like some of my best days on the mound are ahead of me and here I am toiling in the friggin mexican league again. i've finally come to realize i have a horseshit agent and he, not me, is the one putting my name out there to all the teams. the guy was great when things were going well and horseshit when i have needed him the most. the guy's got me by the balls. however, i've decided to put the fate of my career in my own hands. as soon as he emails every farm director and gm's email address, office phone number, and cell # his ass in on the curb and i'm going to do it myself. too bad it took me about two months too long to realize that he's not doing crap for me. he's completely taken the fun, and the passion for the game that kept me going and made me feel like I am one of the luckiest persons on the earth to get to be able to do what I do for a living i've completely ruined this thread today, and I apologize. it just felt good to get that off my chest. now i'm going to go throw a bullpen and try to throw the ball straight through the gosh-darned catcher.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Posting to generate buzz usually involves pandering to the lowest base human emotions and is readily available on countless other websites. aren't those previous comments readily available on other webites. seriously, that's it. i'm done.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

skydivedad, i too, enjoy your contributions to the community. no hard feelings, i couldn't help myself on that last post. i couldn't pass it up....i probably wouldn't have posted this if i would have seen your rebuttal before i pressed the post button. when you're scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page you can't see the previous post my apologies, i'm a lover not a fighter. unfortunately, no vacation. must go to mexico for five months to "work". hopefully an employer here in the states will pick me up and i won't be there for long.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

is this a troll bait post Bears Fan wears love for team on his back : This is just way to creepy. Tattoos! posted by skydivedad to Football at 4:25 PM CST (19 comments total) --Nice work terrapin. My next one is going to be of a symbol that reminds me of skydivedad.posted by skydivemom at 7:02 PM CST on January 13 >--what? a bag of cheese-doodles and a case of Bass Pale Ale :) posted by skydivedad at 7:23 PM CST on January 13 --No - a sex machine! Hmmmm.....maybe I should do mine on my birthday too. No can't, it's in the summer and I swim way too much in a chlorine pool. I don't know for sure but I don't think that is good for new ink. Maybe I will just get Johnny Damon's or Carlos Zambrano's signature put on my butt. Better not skydivedad is already jealous of those two enough. posted by skydivemom at 7:25 PM CST on January 13 ok, i'm sorry. i've brought nothing good to the table here. i have love for everyone. my gloves are off, truce

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

skydivedad, what is the Prime Directive of Sportsfilter and what is this site about? somebody fill me in, please. A good link is sports-related and encourages discussion among the community. SportsFilter is not a place to ask a question or merely state an opinion. Links should be about something new related to sportssuch as a breaking news story, an interesting commentary, or a noteworthy sports site. contrary to what you may think, i have read the guidelines. the numbers comment was a little poke at grum, whose work I happen to enjoy a lot.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

if it generates buzz and conversation, why does it matter what site a posts originate from. i know the r. williams post has gotten a little out of hand now, but is has generated activity. would it have made it any different if I would have pulled it from the KDVR Denver site, the original source who broke the story. my first post, about MLB power rankings, was a little shaky. It was tough to read and really brought nothing thought-provoking to the site. However, it did generate buzz and got people talking baseball on one of the first days of P's and C's reporting to spring training. A day, for those who are true baseball fans, that is one of the most anticipated and exciting days of the year . In fact, grum my number crunching should impress you, my four posts have averaged 33 comments and rising.

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

Time to impose a one FPP-per-day limit?

sorry guys, like i said i just learned to cut and paste and felt like these topics would garner some good conversation. i'm putting myself on posting probation for five months. i'm heading out to mexico next sunday and just trying to satisfy my spofi jones before i head to the land of dial-up internet cafes. i'll stay on the sidelines for the rest of the week. in my opinion, it's not like I posted some irrelevant topics. good workers, athletes, etc. learn from their mistakes and take constructive criticism well and I have done that.